A teacher by profession, but is now in his 38th year as a football writer. Has written for "Soccer Action" (Melbourne), "Australian Soccer Weekly" (Sydney) and "World Soccer" (London), as well as for several Tasmanian newspapers. Currently contributing to "Goal!Weekly" in Melbourne and the Australian magazine "Soccer International". Played for Croatia-Glenorchy, Caledonians, Metro, Rapid and University in Tasmania, as well as in the United States of America. Coached University, Metro and Croatia-Glenorchy.

August

2014 competition structures released by FFT

Football Federation Tasmania today released the competition structures for 2014.

The following is the official release from FFT:

Football Federation Tasmania (FFT) have conducted several Northern and Southern Club President meetings over the last month to discuss the current competition structures, seek feedback and determine if there is a consensus regarding competition structures for 2014 to provide the Board of FFT for decision.

These meetings were extremely valuable and FFT would like to thank everyone for the co-operative and constructive approach. A decision has been made by the board, as informed by the Club President meetings regarding the competition structures for 2014 and beyond.

The Northern Competitions in 2014 will stay the same as 2013. The three Northern Victory League Clubs will continue to participate in the Northern Premier League with an Under 20 team with overage exemption.

It would be compulsory for each club to nominate a team/teams in the following competitions;

Northern Victory League Club

Victory League (one team)

Northern Premier League (Under 20, with overage exemption) (one team)

Northern Premier Reserves (one team)

Northern Under 18 (one team)

Northern League 1 – Optional (multiple teams)

Under 16 (NTJSA or North-West/FFT) (multiple teams)

Under 14 and/or 13 (NTJSA or North-West/FFT) (multiple teams)

Junior Association (Under 12 and below) teams or pathway relationship with a club or association

Northern Premier League Club

Northern Premier League (one team)

Northern Premier Reserves (one team)

Northern Under 18 (one team)

Northern League 1 – Optional (multiple teams)

Under 16 (NTJSA or North-West/FFT) (multiple teams)

Under 14 and/or 13 (NTJSA or North-West/FFT) (multiple teams)

Junior Association (Under 12 and below) teams or pathway relationship with a club or association.

In the Southern Competitions, the major change in 2014 is that the five Southern Victory League Clubs will not participate in the Southern Premier League Competition.

The five Southern Victory League Clubs will be joined by the NTC and compete in a six team Under 20 Development League with overage exemption. The remaining six clubs in the Southern Premier League from 2013 (Beachside, Taroona, New Town, Clarence, University and Nelson Eastern Suburbs) will participate in the Southern Premier League and underpinned by an open age reserves competition, as well as nominate youth teams.

Clubs seeking entry in the Southern Premier League must demonstrate they can meet the criteria for underpinning teams as well as other criteria used for entry into the Southern Premier League including but not limited to Governance, Facilities, Performance and Coach Education requirements.

It would be compulsory for each club to nominate a team/teams in the following competitions;

Southern Victory League Club

Victory League (one team)

Victory League Development (Under 20, with overage exemption) (one team)

Under 20 (multiple teams)

Under 16 (multiple teams)

Under 14 and/or 13 (multiple teams)

Junior Association (Under 12 and below) teams or pathway relationship with a club or association

Southern Premier League Club

Southern Premier League (one team)

Southern Premier Reserves (one team)

Under 20 (multiple teams)

Under 16 (multiple teams)

Under 13 and/or 14 (multiple teams)

Junior Association (Under 12 and below) teams or pathway relationship with club or association

All clubs can enter multiple teams in the following open senior competitions;

Southern League 1 - optional

Southern League 2 - optional

Southern League 3 - optional

Southern League 4 – optional

Southern League Over 35’s – optional

Southern Community Club

Can enter multiple teams in Southern League 1 senior competitions and below as well as Under 20 youth competitions and below

Below outlines some of the feedback in relation to Southern Competitions provided by clubs;

• The difficulty for all clubs, (spread and increased workload of volunteer resource, lack of club unity of being at multiple venues at the same time, effect on club financials by not having all teams together) caused by having Victory League Clubs in the Southern Premier League and an uneven number of clubs in each competitions.

• The inconsistency and at times lack of credibility of the Southern Premier League caused by the Victory League clubs being strong one week and weak the next depending on player availability in the first team.

•The introduction of Under 13 to support the greater transfer of Under 12 teams and players form Junior associations into club football on mass, however a club can nominate a team in either Under 13 or 14, or both to meet the criteria.

It is believed the proposed competition structures will address the issues outlined above and allow each club to reach their maximum potential. The new structure will allow for underpinning teams to always play prior to the first team at home matches and provide the Southern Premier League with the same clubs across two tiers for greater alignment of match days and a competition with clubs with similar objectives.

In conjunction with clubs, FFT are currently undertaking a review of the women’s competition structures and underpinning age groups and will be in a position to communicate these in the near future.

FFT looks forward to working with all clubs to communicate the changes in competition structures for 2014, that were made through strong consultation with all clubs.

The Victory League Clubs now will become under 20 clubs with one team over age being the VL squad. Any player not making a VL squad who is 21 or older will play in the SPL. SPL will now be seen as the 3rd tier competition in terms of strength. They will not attract any young quality as they will gravitate to the VL clubs and the top quality 120 or so over 20 players will be in the Victory League squads. What does this leave? This leaves the SPL with lack of quality of experienced players and the bottom of the barrel youth. I question this structure for the long term viability of the SPL clubs. I am involved in a club in Southern Tasmania but chose at this point in time to remain unknown. This could be costly. I welcome any retorts.

I thoroughly agree. The SPL has been mugged.The claim that the V league teams were inconsistent is rubbish. Even with a full stregth team they are no match for Taroona or Beachside

Walter this maybe of interest to you in regards to the set up in Victoria next year http://hosting4.sportingpulse.com/www.footballfedvic.com.au/fileadmin/user_upload/Competitions/NCR/NPLV_-_The_Model.pdf

Fair point, but it would've been nice to have at least mentioned them in the same breath.

Make sure you read the whole article next time please: "In conjunction with clubs, FFT are currently undertaking a review of the women?s competition structures and underpinning age groups and will be in a position to communicate these in the near future."

One step at a time. They have just done the men's first is all as there are more teams to accommodate.